When you are trying to be witty, you are apt sometimes to wander from the truth. I have not been altogether honest in describing the lamplighters. I realize that I am in danger of giving a false impression of our planet to those who are not acquainted with it. Mankind takes up very little space on Earth. If the two billion inhabitants who populate the Earth were to stand up and squeeze fairly close together, as if for a public meeting, they could easily be accommodated on a public square twenty miles long and twenty miles wide. You could cram humanity on to the least little islet of the Pacific.

Grown-ups, of course, will not believe you when you tell them this. They think they take up a lot of space. They fancy themselves as important as the baobabs. You must therefore suggest they do the calculation for themselves. They adore figures: it will make them happy. But don't waste your time on this chore. It is pointless. Believe me.

After arriving on Earth, the little prince was very surprised not to see any people. He was beginning to fear he had come to the wrong planet, when something coil-shaped, the colour of moonlight, stirred in the sand before him.

'Good evening,' said the little prince, just in case.

'Good evening,' said the snake.

'What planet have I landed on?' asked the little prince.

'On Earth, in Africa.' the snake replied.

'Ah! ... So there are no people on the Earth?'

'Here it is the desert. There are no people in the desert. The Earth is large.' said the snake.

The little prince sat down on a stone, and lifted his eyes towards the night sky.

'I wonder.' he said, 'do the stars glow so that some day everyone can find a way back to their own? Look at my planet. It is directly above us. But how far away it is!'

'It is beautiful,' said the snake. 'So what brings you here?'

'I've been having some trouble with a flower,' said the little prince.

'Ah!' said the snake.

And they both fell silent.

''Where are the people?' resumed the little prince at last. 'It's a little lonely in the desert . . .'

'It is lonely when you're among people, too.' said the snake.

The little prince studied him for a long time:

'You are an odd creature.' he said at last, 'no thicker than a finger ...'

'But more powerful than the finger of a king.' said the snake.

At this the little prince gave a smile:

'You are not so very powerful. You don't even have legs. You cannot even travel.'

I can transport you farther than any ship,' said the snake.

He coiled himself around the little prince's ankle, like a gold bracelet.

'Whomever I touch,' the snake spoke again, 'I return them to the earth from whence they came. But you are made of purer stuff, and you come from a star.'

The little prince said nothing.

'I pity you, so frail, on this Earth of granite. I can help you, some day, should you grow too homesick for your planet. I could-'

'Oh, yes! I understand you perfectly.' said the little prince. 'But tell me, why do you always speak in riddles?'

'I solve them, one and all,' said the snake.

And they both fell silent.